SNL Premiere: Jim Carrey Makes His Debut as Joe Biden — Watch & Grade It!

Ryan Schwartz
·3 min read
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Jim Carrey took on one of the buzziest roles of his career this weekend when he succeeded Jason Sudeikis as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live.

The In Living Color alum — who has previously hosted SNL three times — starred opposite Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump during the Season 46 premiere’s cold open (embedded above), which (mostly) sidestepped Trump’s current medical crisis and instead parodied the Sept. 29 presidential debate. Beck Bennett played moderator Chris Wallace, who started the debate by gloating, “I think I’m gonna do a really good job tonight.”

As for Trump, he got the show “on the road and off the rails” almost immediately, assuring Wallace, scout’s honor and all, that he took the agreed-upon COVID test ahead of his arrival on stage. (Later, he’d claim that the “China virus is a hoax,” a statement “that will probably come back to haunt me later this week.”)

Shortly thereafter, Carrey made his highly anticipated debut as the former Vice President and spent much of the debate giving himself a pep talk, trying to remember all the lessons instilled in him during anger management training. He eventually turned to his meditation tape, narrated by none other than Harry Styles. The camera then cut to Trump who turned on a meditation tape of his own: Cecily Strong’s Kimberly Guilfoyle screaming at the top of her lungs during the Republican National Convention.

Eventually, Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris entered from stage right to force Trump to apologize to Joe. (“I don’t care who started it,” she said. “I don’t even care who sharted it. You apologize to Joe right now.”) She then declared that America needs a WAP—err, woman as president, but being “Hot Vice President in Charge” would do for now.

As the debate reached closing statements, Carrey’s Biden took out a TV remote and hit “pause” on Trump. He then stepped out from his podium and addressed the nation directly.

“You can trust me, because I believe in science and karma,” he said, a not-so-subtle nod to Trump’s COVID diagnosis. “Now, just imagine if science and karma could somehow team up to send us all a message about how dangerous this virus can be. I’m not saying I want it to happen, but just imagine if it did. So this November, please get on the Biden Train — which is literally a commuter train to Delaware, and we can all make America not actively on fire again.”

Biden has previously been portrayed by four other actors, including Kevin Nealon (in a 1991 cold open that spoofed Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings), Woody Harrelson (in three Democratic debate sketches last fall) and John Mulaney (in a coronavirus-themed presser on Feb. 29). But the SNL alum most commonly associated with the role is Jason Sudeikis, who appeared as the former VP in more than a dozen sketches since 2008.

As for The Donald, this marks Baldwin’s fifth season parodying POTUS. He took home the 2017 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series following his initial slate of appearances throughout Season 42.

What did you think of Carrey’s Biden impression? And where does it rank among previous SNL impersonations of the Obama’s VP? Weigh in via the following polls.

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